How much $ do you need a week

Ours is usually around $100, less if I am in Palmy and get to Pak n Save. We only have New World here and OMG its expensive!

lol it's actually not very hard to keep groceries really low in cost. I'm lazy and don't make any of Daniels food so its all tinned stuff and most of our meals have some form of egg in them so I can't be bothered making a whole seperate thing for him.

And we could actually make it lower by getting meat from my parents for DH as they have a farm and do home kill.

Pak n save is by far cheaper. We also take advantage of $3 week and usually spend more then.

But we go to markets to get our produce. It's sooooooo much cheaper and fresher than in the supermarket. We have our vege garden but it's DH's first year of really trying it so it's not producing that much yet.

We write a list of meals we might want to have that week and then figure out what we need to make it. Like tacos, pasta bake, a rice dish etc. Then buy bread buns and freeze them for the week's lunchs. We hardly ever buy lunch anymore because its really expensive compared with making something tasty at home.

We also make our own stir fry sauces etc rather than buying them. Like mixing together soy, lime juice and honey ain't hard.. so making the sauces yourself if you have those types of meals works out saving a bit.

Have you guys all found groceries have got so much more expensive over the last couple of months?? or is it just a Blenheim thing?
Aaargh so hard to shop. We have a $150 a week budget with 2 kids in nappies. Hard to stick with sometimes but manage pretty well. Helps to do the meal plan/shopping list thing definitley.

Oh man I am the worst at keeping to my budget, I don't know whats wrong with me and what I buy. I do one big shop every 2 weeks and usually spend maybe $240 on a bad week $200 on a good week (this week was close to $300 ) and then about $50 on the other week for milk, fruit and veges. I have 2 in budget nappies, don't buy formula or sanitary products and make all Capreces food (with the exception of maybe 4 tins each big shop). I put $40 gas in every other week.

Actually now that I think about it $250 is more than enough if you don't count haircuts and clothes.

And yes nzpiper shopping has to have got more expensive, budget bread was up by 15 cents this week and we go through a lot of bread.

Not to mention the block butter you use for baking.. this used to be around $1.. now its $4 a block!!!

lol lol..... You are allowed to have a wee treat "joshierocks"

I spend roughly $200 (sometimes just under) on groceries per fortnight for two adults and three kids, but that doesn't include meat which Willie buys and fruit and veg which I buy every 4-5 days from a vege shop (cheaper than supermarket) and costs me around $60 a week. The groceries includes one bulk pack of sposies for nights and a bulk pack of Huggies wipes which lasts a fortnight with two in nappies, plus a box of Johnsons liners and every month or so a bottle of Dettol Fresh for the nappy washes.
I also do incidental shops for stuff like milk as the gremlins get thru around 9l a week And milk is bloody expensive!
When it comes to coffee/lunches out, takeaways etc. I am pretty slack, I kind of work off the theory that I work therefore I spend There has to be some perks to being a working mum! I probably spend anywhere from $20 too $100 a week depending on how often I'm out.
Petrol is $90 a tank and usually lasts about 10 days but I do a lot of driving.
Haircuts usually cost me about $20 for Maya, Willie shaves his own and mine is about $150 every eight weeks for a cut and color altho I've been slack since I've been pregnant and am in dire need of a color.

We spend $150 weekly on groceries for 2xadults + 1xbaby (that'll do 5 meals + 5 lunches + meat + veges + beer/wine). We have $50 petrol a week (I don't seem to go far these days!) and $180 spending (coffee/lunch/clothing/takeaways/presents/haircuts/doctor/dentist.....you name it that $180 has to stretch somehow!!!

Some weeks we spend more, other weeks less.....it just seems to be evening out at the moment! All other expenses (eg insurance/rates/power) come out of another account.

We used to spend $120 on groceries and upped it to $150 when baby arrived.

We also put aside $10 weekly while I was pregnant for nappies.....and bought about 8 packets of newborn sposies in advance.   Hoping the $400 we have for nappies will last us the year.

Hope that helps   :)

We would spend around $250 - $300 per fornight on our groceries...we've started getting a few more organic products however which is a little more expensive so could cut down the grocery bill by around $50 to $100 but we're finding it worth it. We also allow for a few more luxuries now that I'm working again.

Before I went back to work however our grocery budget was $200 a fornight and we managed great on that.

We also now budget $40 per fornight each for coffee, lunches out etc but again this is only as I'm working, before we didn't have this either. Coffees were made at home and bought lunch was unheard of!

KylahsMum wrote: Not to mention the block butter you use for baking.. this used to be around $1.. now its $4 a block!!!

I use margarine! It's cheaper, already soft and I've never noticed a taste difference with anything!